An Austin man has been quarantining during the pandemic alone in a ghost town

For the past two months as much of the world has been in lockdown, Brent Underwood has been quarantining in Cerro Gordo — a ghost town about 200 miles north of Los Angeles that has been abandoned since the late 1880s. Underwood is an Austin resident.

For the past two months as much of the world has been in lockdown, Brent Underwood has been quarantining in Cerro Gordo — a ghost town about 200 miles north of Los Angeles that has been abandoned since the

For the past two months as much of the world has been in lockdown, Brent Underwood has been quarantining in Cerro Gordo — a ghost town about 200 miles north of Los Angeles that has been abandoned since the late 1880s. Underwood is an Austin resident.

For the past two months as much of the world has been in lockdown, Brent Underwood has been quarantining in Cerro Gordo — a ghost town about 200 miles north of Los Angeles that has been abandoned since the

An Austin man has been quarantining during the pandemic alone in a ghost town

1 / 18

Back to Gallery

Stuck in an abandoned town, cut off from the outside world by a freak snowstorm with a group of ghosts as your only company during a global pandemic sounds like the plot of a Stephen King novel. For one Austin man, it’s his reality.

For the past two months as the world has been in lockdown, Brent Underwood has been in self isolation in Cerro Gordo — a ghost town about 200 miles north east of Los Angeles that has been abandoned since the late 1880s.

“Cerro Gordo is well-known for being a ghost town, but prior to this I didn’t believe it much,” Underwood said.

Though it is credited for helping cities like Los Angles grow into the hub it is today, the city of Cerro Gordo, a bustling mining town in the mid 1800s, has a long history of death and murder.

“There are stories that some people would surround their beds in sandbags to stop stray bullets from hitting them in the night because there were so many shootings,” Underwood said.

Underwood, who owns HK Austin hostel, bought Cerro Gordo in 2018 after a buddy jokingly suggested it and decided to renovate it so others can experience the town's history. Since then, he travels twice a month to California to work on the renovations. When the coronavirus lockdowns began, Underwood drove out to relieve the property’s caretaker in March.

After he arrived, a snowstorm came through and buried the town in several feet of snow, trapping him in with the closest neighbors about 20 miles away. And with most of the drive out of Cerra Gordo consisting of a dirt road next to a cliff, Underwood had no choice but to hunker down by himself in the town.

But, he says he isn’t alone.

“Sometimes, I will be in a building and get a weird feeling and want to run out, and the feeling will just get worse until I leave,” Underwood said.

With such a storied past, Cerro Gordo has had its fair share of ghost tales emerge with people reporting seeing children, murdered miners and more throughout the town. The TV show “Ghost Adventures” featured the town in an episode, determining there were spirits that roamed the properties.

“There have been too many incidents of mischief and things that I can’t explain,” Underwood said. “I haven’t had any negative interactions; I don’t think the ghosts are out to get me. I think they are more curious.”

One night, as Underwood passed by a locked-up house, he saw a kitchen light on and swore he saw a face in the window before the curtain closed shut. He said he is the only one with a key. He went into the home and turned off the light, but by the next night the light was back on.

While he has been staying in the Belshaw House (where the ghosts of children are often seen), he has only experienced books falling off the shelves. Underwood said the only time he has seen a ghost was what he said was a miner’s face in the back of the saloon.

But he can feel when something is amiss.

“There is a bunk house that I don’t like to go into because I get too eerie of a feeling when I try to go down this one hallway,” Underwood said. “And the closer I get to these bedrooms, the worse the feeling is; it’s like needles in my skin.”

If an area makes him feel uncomfortable, he avoids it.

“It’s pretty simple,” he laughed. “I have been slowly figuring out where I don’t want to go ... but I try not to fixate on (the ghosts).”

Despite the spirits, the quarantine has given him the chance to fall in love with the town.

Underwood doesn’t have many tools and can’t get any contractors out to the property, so it has been difficult to fix up the old buildings.

“I put my life savings into this and there are about 20 buildings that each need significant renovation, so I have been going building by building doing what I can,” Underwood said.

Underwood isn’t totally cut off from the outside world. He can access the internet, but that’s about it. Since he doesn’t have the ability to watch Netflix he doesn't know about the phenomenon that is the docuseries "Tiger King," which has been a hit while people have self-isolated.

Underwood, however, has taught himself geology, photography and studies animal tracks. He has also started hiking and exploring the mines that tunnel under the town.

But it has been a difficult two months. Underwood arrived with only about two weeks’ worth of provisions, so he has had to ration and scavenge what he can find in the town. He also hasn’t had any running water, something that he misses most about his Austin apartment.

“I am just trying to embrace the situation; it has been good and bad.” Underwood said. “I haven’t had to be as consumed with the news, so I haven’t had to see the effects of the coronavirus as much. I am also finding comfort in the fact that, because everyone else is stuck inside too, I am not really missing anything.

“I think everyone will remember their time in quarantine and this sure has been an interesting time for me to look back on.”